Jump In Jobs In Hotels And Restaurants

Jobs for chefs, hotel workers and restaurant staff are up according to the latest IrishJobs.ie Jobs Index.

IrishJobs.ie, Ireland’s number one recruitment website, recorded a 22% year on year increase in vacancies in the hotel and catering sector, with fierce competition within the industry to recruit experienced chefs.

The sector’s 9% tourism VAT rate, which was introduced during the economic crisis, is currently under review by the Department of Finance. Any decision to revise the rate upwards could have a cooling effect on recruitment in this area.

The construction sector continues its bounce back with jobs up 21% year on year with quantity surveyor and civil engineers, particularly in demand. With the commercial and residential property markets continuing to perform robustly the roles across construction, architecture and property can be expected to grow in the medium term.

Jobs in Banking, Insurance and Finance are maintaining a respectable growth of 2% year on year, and up 2% quarter on quarter. However, the hoped for post-Brexit banking job boom has yet to emerge. According to a recent report from EY, Dublin is the top destination with the companies that have already revealed their post-Brexit EU bases. However, this isn’t the time to be complacent as competition to attract these roles is intense with France strongly pushing Paris as a destination city and announcing three finance-friendly initiatives just last week.

Overall jobs are up 1% year on year which is surprising given Ireland’s reported economic growth rate. It is perhaps reflective a general hesitancy by employers to implement recruitment plans given global economic uncertainty. However, this has not trickled to employees who are buoyant about the job market with 77% saying they are confident they could find a new job in less than 6 months.

The IrishJobs.ie Job Index analyses the number of jobs advertised online. This Index examines the jobs advertised from April to June this year and the data was prepared and analysed by Dr Declan Curran, economist, and Dr Chris van Egeraat, economic geographer.

Recruitment Battle For Chefs

Orla Moran, General Manager, IrishJobs.ie commented;

“April, May and June always sees a spike in jobs in the Hotel and Catering as the industry gears up for the summer months. This time, what’s notable is the year on year increase of 22% in jobs which reflects robust growth in the sector. With more people now in work perhaps this increase in vacancies can be attributed to a rise disposable income. People like to talk about the IT skills shortage but within the hotel and restaurant business there is an equivalent skills shortage for catering staff with fierce competition to recruit experienced chefs. It’s interesting that this rise in vacancies comes as the Department of Finance looks at the sector’s VAT rate of 9%. Restoring the rate to its pre-crisis levels could dampen recruitment in the sector.”

No Brexit Bounce Yet For Banking Jobs

“There’s been a lot of speculation in the media about a post-Brexit banking jobs boom. We’ve recorded a steady 2% rise in jobs in banking and finance so it’s still too soon to see post-Brexit roles emerge in the Irish job market. We support a range of banks and financial institutions with their recruitment including JP Morgan, State Street and Bank of America so we will be tracking movement in banking jobs closely. Dublin has fared well so far in terms of the companies who already declared their post Brexit intentions but there is still a long way to go and Paris in particular is pulling out all the stops to attract these lucrative, high value jobs.” she added.

Good News for Dublin Commuter Belt Counties

As regards job vacancy gains by location, the year-on-year figures are positive for all counties with the exception of Longford (-19%) and Kerry (-7%). There is, however, a notable dispersion in performances. The highest year-on-year increase is recorded by Wicklow (+36%). Other counties recording strong year-on-year growth in vacancies include Kildare (30%), Offaly (30%), Carlow (28%), Meath (25%) and Westmeath (25%). The commuting counties around Dublin are all experiencing relatively high increases in job vacancies.

The strongest quarter-on-quarter vacancy decrease are recorded in Monaghan (-8%) and Cavan (-6%). As in the last quarter, Offaly has again recorded the most substantial gain (26%) this quarter. Other counties experiencing substantial increases in vacancies included Galway (21%) and Donegal (21%).